KHUJAND, September 22, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik-German joint venture, closed joint-stock company (JSC) Aura of Sughd, has produced the test bulk of natural stone units.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, chairman of the Aura of Sughd board, Vladimir Chernolutsky, said that the units had been produced from stones extracted from the quarry Arabskoye.

“The up-to-date Russian-made equipment Prima and brick-sawing machine Victoria have been installed at the quarry,” Chernolutsky said, noting that the enterprise’s capacity is up to 1 million units per year. 

15 workers currently work with the quarry at an average monthly wage of 500 somoni.  They intend to double the number of workers at the quarry.

“We have produced the test bulk.  Because of electricity shortages we currently work on diesel generators that raises the product cost,” said the enterprise board chairman, “Therefore, we are constructing a separate power transmission line to provide normal operating regime.”  

The main shareholder of the enterprise is the German company Diplomatik Bau Engineering und Organisation LTD, which assumes the 80 percent ownership interest in Aura of Sughd, Tajikistan’s CJSC Fanon Bank owns 5 percent of the shares and the private individuals from Tajikistan own 15 percent of the shares in the enterprise.